the last of argentina :(

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spent my last week in argentina in the lakes district which was probably my favourite place of all, but then again i had many fav places. bariloche was a 20h bus ride from buenos aires and really gorgeous. the chocolate shops were everywhere! they sell it by the kilo. its right next to a massive lake, lago nahuel huapi and all these mountains. the buildings are sort of like swiss styles, wood and stone. it was pretty cold though compared to where i'd been.

one of the days i was trying to go somewhere on a bus, but none of the one i wanted came in an hour, so i jumped on a different one instead. i met this argentinian girl and decided to do whatever she was doing which was a boat cruise to a few islands and national parks and turned out to be great. doing what other people are can be a lot easier than planning for yourself and more exciting cos you never know where you're going! the next day i did a similar thing with this guy i met at the breakfast table which turned out to be biking round the circuito chico, 30km and hilly and not easy when youve been out with argentinian girl til 5.30am the previous night. it was so beautiful though! after that effort i deserved some more chocolate.

i was in bariloche 3 nights and then went to el bolson for 4 nights, this has got to be the coolest town ive visited. no tall buildings, ranges of mountains on either side, local produce from farms, hippies.. had such a good atmosphere. their feira artesanal is about the best market ever! spent nearly a whole day there eating their organic food and getting beads in my hair and looking at the crafts stalls. the other main thing i got up to in el bolson was an overnight trek up into the mountains with food and sleeping bag etc. i went alone because i wanted to have an adventure. it was really tough! firstly i was on the wrong trail for nearly 2hrs but then i got onto the right one and it was pretty much straight upwards... for 2.5 hrs!! i was at snails pace, but i knew there were 2 girls behind me (the only 2 i saw on this trail the whole time). i actually had no idea of what the trail would be like and i just kept making myself continue. turns out that the 5hr time on the track mustve allowed for a lot of resting and going slow since i finished in around 3.5hrs, whereas the girls did take 5. the final hour was easier through a forest and coming up to the base of this mountain with ice. like i said i hadnt known what to expect so seeing the mountain was a surprise and the refugio was this tiny hut at 1600m. it was called Refugio Natacion (but it was way too cold to swim in the lake). everyone cooked on a woodfire stove and slept on the floor in the attic. haha it was awesome, so basic.

the way down the next morning was also really steep, i went part of the way with some girls but they were going too slowly. easier to let momentum take you down! it eventually joined up with the end of the trail to Cajon del Azul refugio (the popular one that everyone does) so there were actually people on this trail! checked out the refugio, it was so modern and big haha. I'm glad i stayed at the other one. went for a swim in the river which was freezing of course. then i walked back to the trailhead, that day i walked 7hours. i was pretty damn sore and stiff afterwards and i felt really proud of my accomplishment!

had to leave the next day but fitted in a 2hr walk in the morning to this mirador over rio azul which was lovely. i complained to the hostel guy 'no quiero salir' because i really wanted to stay in the town and transform into a hippy. but i had stayed as long as possible in order to still make my flight from buenos aires!!

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Photos

Refugio Natacion
a sight for tired legs

national park
these trees are really rare and i think they are called arrayanes

view from circuito chico
i had to walk up this hill

my hostel in el bolson
pretty cool photo huh

near refugio natacion
when you trek alone you have to take photos of yourself

does that look cold
because it was